By Ken Y-N ( April 18, 2009 at 23:35)
· Filed under Polls, Society
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[part 1][part 2]
Recently, the Cabinet Office Japan performed a survey looking at the topic of general legal support, and the operations of the Hou (Legal) Terrace legal assistance system in particular.
Demographics
3,000 members of the general public aged 20 or older were randomly selected from all over the country, and between the 22nd of January and 1st of February 2009 attempts were made to interview them face to face. 1,684, or 56.1%, were available and agreed to take part in the survey. 52.3% of the sample were female, 9.6% in their twenties, 14.6% in their thirties, 16.1% in their forties, 19.3% in their fifties, 23.9% in their sixties, 13.2% in their seventies, and 3.2% aged eighty or older.
I’ve not had any legal troubles in Japan myself, but my parents-in-law have had certain trouble that I really don’t want to go into, but it basically involved bankrupcy, pensions and semi-dodgy lenders, or more likely the public face of the fully-dodgy lenders.
Research results
Q1: Compared to ten years ago, do you feel legal troubles have increased or decreased throughout society as a whole? (Sample size=1,684)
| Increased |
87.6% |
| Not changed |
9.0% |
| Decreased |
0.5% |
| Don’t know |
2.9% |
Q2: Within the last four or five years, have you or close family or friends, etc been involved in legal troubles? (Sample size=1,684)
| Yes (to SQs) |
15.4% |
| No |
83.7% |
| Don’t know |
1.0% |
Q2SQ1: What kind of legal trouble was it? (Sample size=259, multiple answer)
| Victim of bad business practices |
26.6% |
| Multiple debts |
22.4% |
| Traffic accident |
22.0% |
| Loan problem other than multiple debts |
18.1% |
| Male-female, husband-wife related |
15.8% |
| Inheritance, will related |
14.3% |
| Work-related |
12.7% |
| Medical incident |
7.7% |
| Neighbour-related |
6.9% |
| Victim of other crime |
8.9% |
| Other |
2.7% |
| Don’t know |
0.8% |
Q2SQ2: With these problems, did you or people close to you have a problem not knowing how to resolve things? (Sample size=259)
| Yes |
48.6% |
| No |
43.2% |
| Don’t know |
8.1% |
Q3: If someone known to you borrowed a significant sum of money from you but didn’t repay within the time promised, how would you resolve this? (Sample size=1,684, multiple answer)
| Consult with friends, family |
45.8% |
| Consult with a lawyer |
41.9% |
| Consult with the police |
20.0% |
| Consult with the National Consumer Affairs Center, Legal Terrace, other public body |
17.0% |
| Consult with local government or similar body |
14.4% |
| Get a court order, arbitration myself |
9.4% |
| Don’t talk to anyone and resolve it myself |
7.7% |
| Consult with a professional other than a lawyer or judicial clerk |
7.0% |
| Consult with a judicial clerk |
6.9% |
| Consult with someone influential in the community |
2.6% |
| Other |
1.9% |
| Nothing in particular |
2.6% |
| Don’t know |
1.8% |
Q4: If there was an argument between your brothers and sisters regarding the division of your late father’s inheritance, how would you resolve this? (Sample size=1,684, multiple answer)
| Consult with a lawyer |
47.0% |
| Consult with friends, family |
34.0% |
| Consult with a judicial clerk |
11.9% |
| Consult with a professional other than a lawyer or judicial clerk |
11.5% |
| Get a court order, arbitration myself |
8.7% |
| Don’t talk to anyone and resolve it myself |
8.4% |
| Consult with local government or similar body |
7.1% |
| Consult with the National Consumer Affairs Center, Legal Terrace, other public body |
5.2% |
| Consult with the police |
1.3% |
| Consult with someone influential in the community |
1.1% |
| Other |
1.5% |
| Nothing in particular |
4.5% |
| Don’t know |
2.6% |
Note that the text of Q4 described clearly a late father.
Q5: If you couldn’t reach an agreement regarding divorce from your spouse, how would you resolve this? (Sample size=1,684, multiple answer)
| Consult with a lawyer |
44.8% |
| Consult with friends, family |
39.1% |
| Get a court order, arbitration myself |
24.7% |
| Don’t talk to anyone and resolve it myself |
7.8% |
| Consult with a professional other than a lawyer or judicial clerk |
4.3% |
| Consult with local government or similar body |
4.2% |
| Consult with the National Consumer Affairs Center, Legal Terrace, other public body |
4.2% |
| Consult with a judicial clerk |
3.3% |
| Consult with the police |
0.8% |
| Consult with someone influential in the community |
0.8% |
| Other |
0.8% |
| Nothing in particular |
3.0% |
| Don’t know |
5.2% |
Q6: When you had, were to have legal trouble, is there a lawyer you could consult with? (Sample size=1,684)
| Have consulted a lawyer in the past, and there is one I can consult now |
8.9% |
| Have consulted a lawyer in the past, but there isn’t one I can consult now |
5.6% |
| Haven’t consulted a lawyer in the past, but there is one I can consult now |
9.9% |
| Haven’t consulted a lawyer in the past, and there isn’t one I can consult now |
74.8% |
| Don’t know |
0.8% |
Q7: If you were to have legal trouble, how would you think about consulting a lawyer? (Sample size=1,684)
| Would consult without hesitation |
34.7% |
| Would hesitate, but would consult (to SQ) |
50.1% |
| Would hesitate, but would not consult (to SQ) |
4.5% |
| Would not consult (to SQ) |
5.9% |
| No answer |
4.8% |
Q7SQ: Why would you hesitate or not consult at all with a lawyer? (Sample size=1,019, multiple answer)
| Because fees would be expensive |
62.8% |
| Because I don’t have information about lawyers, such as years of practice, specialities, trustworthiness, etc |
37.4% |
| Because I would want to speak with someone I could trust first |
29.7% |
| Because there are no lawyers nearby and I don’t want to travel a long distance to consult with one |
17.1% |
| Because the matter would be difficult to talk about |
16.4% |
| Other |
2.3% |
| Don’t know |
1.3% |
[part 1][part 2]
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